Man sentenced for Kalamazoo Co. crime spree

Man sentenced for Kalamazoo Co. crime spree

Matthew Steppenwolf

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A man was sentenced to prison for several felonies after a crime spree over a year ago.

Matthew Steppenwolf was sentenced Monday to 15 to 30 years in prison for armed robbery and two years for two counts of felony firearms for the incidences that happened in January 2017. He was also sentenced to 7 to 20 years for arson, 15 to 30 years for carjacking, and 7 to 15 years for weapons discharge into a building.

Steppenwolf pleaded guilty to the counts on February 1 and others were dropped.

Investigators say Steppenwolf started a fire at a home off East G Avenue in Cooper Township after he robbed a Citgo gas station. Following that fire, they say he went to a home off Monterey Drive where he got into some kind of altercation with a family there and shot a woman in the chest. Following the shooting, police say Steppenwolf hijacked a car on Drake Road near Kalamazoo Central High School before eventually crashing into a tree in Climax around 11:30 a.m. Investigators took him into custody without further incident. The school was locked down.

Steppenwolf is also related to two convicted killers: Monk Steppenwolf, who also goes by Larry Ranes and is serving time at the Saginaw Correctional Facility; and Danny Ranes, who is serving a life sentence at the Lakeland Correctional Facility for several murders.